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Che Y, Gribenko AV, Song X, Handke LD, Efferen KS, Tompkins K, Kodali S, Nunez L, Prasad AK, Phelan LM, Ammirati M, Yu X, Lees JA, Chen W, Martinez L, Roopchand V, Han S, Qiu X, DeVincenzo JP, Jansen KU, Dormitzer PR, Swanson KA. Rational Design of a Highly Immunogenic Prefusion-Stabilized F Glycoprotein Antigen for a Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccine. Sci Transl Med 2023; 15:eade6422. [PMID: 37023209 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.ade6422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/08/2023]
Abstract
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading, global cause of serious respiratory disease in infants and is an important cause of respiratory illness in older adults. No RSV vaccine is currently available. The RSV fusion (F) glycoprotein is a key antigen for vaccine development, and its prefusion conformation is the target of the most potent neutralizing antibodies. Here, we describe a computational and experimental strategy for designing immunogens that enhance the conformational stability and immunogenicity of RSV prefusion F. We obtained an optimized vaccine antigen after screening nearly 400 engineered F constructs. Through in vitro and in vivo characterization studies, we identified F constructs that are more stable in the prefusion conformation and elicit ~10-fold higher serum neutralizing titers in cotton rats than DS-Cav1. The stabilizing mutations of the lead construct (847) were introduced onto F glycoprotein backbones of strains representing the dominant circulating genotypes of the two major RSV subgroups, A and B. Immunization of cotton rats with a bivalent vaccine formulation of these antigens conferred complete protection against RSV challenge, with no evidence of disease enhancement. The resulting bivalent RSV prefusion F investigational vaccine has recently been shown to be efficacious against RSV disease in two pivotal phase 3 efficacy trials, one for passive protection of infants by immunization of pregnant women and the second for active protection of older adults by direct immunization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ye Che
- Discovery Sciences, Pfizer Inc; Groton, CT 06340, USA
| | - Alexey V Gribenko
- Vaccine Research and Development, Pfizer Inc; Pearl River, NY 10965, USA
| | - Xi Song
- Discovery Sciences, Pfizer Inc; Groton, CT 06340, USA
| | - Luke D Handke
- Vaccine Research and Development, Pfizer Inc; Pearl River, NY 10965, USA
| | - Kari S Efferen
- Vaccine Research and Development, Pfizer Inc; Pearl River, NY 10965, USA
| | - Kristin Tompkins
- Vaccine Research and Development, Pfizer Inc; Pearl River, NY 10965, USA
| | - Srinivas Kodali
- Vaccine Research and Development, Pfizer Inc; Pearl River, NY 10965, USA
| | - Lorna Nunez
- Vaccine Research and Development, Pfizer Inc; Pearl River, NY 10965, USA
| | - A Krishna Prasad
- Vaccine Research and Development, Pfizer Inc; Pearl River, NY 10965, USA
| | - Lynn M Phelan
- Vaccine Research and Development, Pfizer Inc; Pearl River, NY 10965, USA
| | - Mark Ammirati
- Discovery Sciences, Pfizer Inc; Groton, CT 06340, USA
| | - Xiaodi Yu
- Discovery Sciences, Pfizer Inc; Groton, CT 06340, USA
| | - Joshua A Lees
- Discovery Sciences, Pfizer Inc; Groton, CT 06340, USA
| | - Wei Chen
- Vaccine Research and Development, Pfizer Inc; Pearl River, NY 10965, USA
| | - Lyndsey Martinez
- Vaccine Research and Development, Pfizer Inc; Pearl River, NY 10965, USA
| | - Vidia Roopchand
- Vaccine Research and Development, Pfizer Inc; Pearl River, NY 10965, USA
| | - Seungil Han
- Discovery Sciences, Pfizer Inc; Groton, CT 06340, USA
| | - Xiayang Qiu
- Discovery Sciences, Pfizer Inc; Groton, CT 06340, USA
| | - John P DeVincenzo
- Children's Foundation Research Institute at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital; Memphis, TN 38103, USA
| | - Kathrin U Jansen
- Vaccine Research and Development, Pfizer Inc; Pearl River, NY 10965, USA
| | - Philip R Dormitzer
- Vaccine Research and Development, Pfizer Inc; Pearl River, NY 10965, USA
| | - Kena A Swanson
- Vaccine Research and Development, Pfizer Inc; Pearl River, NY 10965, USA
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Eyles JE, Johnson JE, Megati S, Roopchand V, Cockle PJ, Weeratna R, Makinen S, Brown TP, Lang S, Witko SE, Kotash CS, Li J, West K, Maldonado O, Falconer DJ, Lees C, Smith GJ, White P, Wright P, Loudon PT, Merson JR, Jansen KU, Sidhu MK. Nonreplicating vaccines can protect african green monkeys from the memphis 37 strain of respiratory syncytial virus. J Infect Dis 2013; 208:319-29. [PMID: 23596321 DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jit169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND We evaluated the immunological responses of African green monkeys immunized with multiple F and G protein-based vaccines and assessed protection against the Memphis 37 strain of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). METHODS Monkeys were immunized with F and G proteins adjuvanted with immunostimulatory (CpG) oligodeoxyribonucleotides admixed with either Alhydrogel or ISCOMATRIX adjuvant. Delivery of F and G proteins via replication incompetent recombinant vesicular stomatitis viruses (VSVs) and human adenoviruses was also evaluated. Mucosally or parenterally administered recombinant adenoviruses were used in prime-boost regimens with adjuvanted proteins or recombinant DNA. RESULTS Animals primed by intranasal delivery of recombinant adenoviruses, and boosted by intramuscular injection of adjuvanted F and G proteins, developed neutralizing antibodies and F/G protein-specific T cells and were protected from RSV infection. Intramuscular injections of Alhydrogel (plus CpG) adjuvanted F and G proteins reduced peak viral loads in the lungs of challenged monkeys. Granulocyte numbers were not significantly elevated, relative to controls, in postchallenge bronchoalveolar lavage samples from vaccinated animals. CONCLUSIONS This study has validated the use of RSV (Memphis 37) in an African green monkey model of intranasal infection and identified nonreplicating vaccines capable of eliciting protection in this higher species challenge model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jim E Eyles
- Pfizer Vaccine Research, La Jolla, California, USA.
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Xu R, Megati S, Roopchand V, Luckay A, Masood A, Garcia-Hand D, Rosati M, Weiner DB, Felber BK, Pavlakis GN, Sidhu MK, Eldridge JH, Egan MA. Comparative ability of various plasmid-based cytokines and chemokines to adjuvant the activity of HIV plasmid DNA vaccines. Vaccine 2008; 26:4819-29. [PMID: 18657584 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2008.06.103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2008] [Revised: 06/20/2008] [Accepted: 06/30/2008] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
The effectiveness of plasmid DNA (pDNA) vaccines can be improved by the co-delivery of plasmid-encoded molecular adjuvants. We evaluated pDNAs encoding GM-CSF, Flt-3L, IL-12 alone, or in combination, for their relative ability to serve as adjuvants to augment humoral and cell-mediated immune responses elicited by prototype pDNA vaccines. In Balb/c mice we found that co-administration of plasmid-based murine GM-CSF (pmGM-CSF), murine Flt-3L (pmFlt-3L) or murine IL-12 (pmIL-12) could markedly enhance the cell-mediated immune response elicited by an HIV-1 env pDNA vaccine. Plasmid mGM-CSF also augmented the immune response elicited by DNA vaccines expressing HIV-1 Gag and Nef-Tat-Vif. In addition, the use of pmGM-CSF as a vaccine adjuvant appeared to markedly increase antigen-specific proliferative responses and improved the quality of the resulting T-cell response by increasing the percentage of polyfunctional memory CD8(+) T cells. Co-delivery of pmFlt-3L with pmGM-CSF did not result in a further increase in adjuvant activity. However, the co-administration of pmGM-CSF with pmIL-12 did significantly enhance env-specific proliferative responses and vaccine efficacy in the murine vaccinia virus challenge model relative to mice immunized with the env pDNA vaccine adjuvanted with either pmGM-CSF or pmIL-12 alone. These data support the testing of pmGM-CSF and pmIL-12, used alone or in combination, as plasmid DNA vaccine adjuvants in future macaque challenge studies.
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MESH Headings
- AIDS Vaccines/immunology
- Adjuvants, Immunologic/genetics
- Adjuvants, Immunologic/pharmacology
- Animals
- CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes/immunology
- Cell Proliferation
- Female
- Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor/genetics
- Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor/pharmacology
- HIV-1/genetics
- HIV-1/immunology
- Interleukin-12/genetics
- Interleukin-12/pharmacology
- Membrane Proteins/genetics
- Membrane Proteins/pharmacology
- Mice
- Mice, Inbred BALB C
- Plasmids
- Vaccines, DNA/immunology
- env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus/genetics
- env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus/immunology
- gag Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus/genetics
- gag Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus/immunology
- tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus/genetics
- tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus/immunology
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Affiliation(s)
- Rong Xu
- Wyeth Vaccines Research, Pearl River, NY 10992, United States
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Luckay A, Sidhu MK, Kjeken R, Megati S, Chong SY, Roopchand V, Garcia-Hand D, Abdullah R, Braun R, Montefiori DC, Rosati M, Felber BK, Pavlakis GN, Mathiesen I, Israel ZR, Eldridge JH, Egan MA. Effect of plasmid DNA vaccine design and in vivo electroporation on the resulting vaccine-specific immune responses in rhesus macaques. J Virol 2007; 81:5257-69. [PMID: 17329330 PMCID: PMC1900241 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.00055-07] [Citation(s) in RCA: 154] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2007] [Accepted: 02/20/2007] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Since human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-specific cell-mediated immune (CMI) responses are critical in the early control and resolution of HIV infection and correlate with postchallenge outcomes in rhesus macaque challenge experiments, we sought to identify a plasmid DNA (pDNA) vaccine design capable of eliciting robust and balanced CMI responses to multiple HIV type 1 (HIV-1)-derived antigens for further development. Previously, a number of two-, three-, and four-vector pDNA vaccine designs were identified as capable of eliciting HIV-1 antigen-specific CMI responses in mice (M. A. Egan et al., Vaccine 24:4510-4523, 2006). We then sought to further characterize the relative immunogenicities of these two-, three-, and four-vector pDNA vaccine designs in nonhuman primates and to determine the extent to which in vivo electroporation (EP) could improve the resulting immune responses. The results indicated that a two-vector pDNA vaccine design elicited the most robust and balanced CMI response. In addition, vaccination in combination with in vivo EP led to a more rapid onset and enhanced vaccine-specific immune responses. In macaques immunized in combination with in vivo EP, we observed a 10- to 40-fold increase in HIV-specific enzyme-linked immunospot assay responses compared to those for macaques receiving a 5-fold higher dose of vaccine without in vivo EP. This increase in CMI responses translates to an apparent 50- to 200-fold increase in pDNA vaccine potency. Importantly, in vivo EP enhanced the immune response against the less immunogenic antigens, resulting in a more balanced immune response. In addition, in vivo EP resulted in an approximate 2.5-log(10) increase in antibody responses. The results further indicated that in vivo EP was associated with a significant reduction in pDNA persistence and did not result in an increase in pDNA associated with high-molecular-weight DNA relative to macaques receiving the pDNA without EP. Collectively, these results have important implications for the design and development of an efficacious vaccine for the prevention of HIV-1 infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amara Luckay
- Wyeth Vaccines Research, 401 N. Middletown Rd., Bldg. 180/216-10, Pearl River, NY 10965, USA
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Roopchand V, Garcia-Hand D, Wu K, Binder E, Sidhu M. Exploiting the activity of VP22 to enhance the delivery of antigens encoded by DNA vaccine plasmids. Retrovirology 2006. [PMCID: PMC1716970 DOI: 10.1186/1742-4690-3-s1-s59] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Vidia Roopchand
- Vaccine Discovery, Wyeth Vaccines Research, Pearl River, New York, 10965, USA
| | - Dorys Garcia-Hand
- Vaccine Discovery, Wyeth Vaccines Research, Pearl River, New York, 10965, USA
| | - Kangjian Wu
- Vaccine Discovery, Wyeth Vaccines Research, Pearl River, New York, 10965, USA
| | - Emily Binder
- Vaccine Discovery, Wyeth Vaccines Research, Pearl River, New York, 10965, USA
| | - Maninder Sidhu
- Vaccine Discovery, Wyeth Vaccines Research, Pearl River, New York, 10965, USA
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Egan MA, Megati S, Roopchand V, Garcia-Hand D, Luckay A, Chong SY, Rosati M, Sackitey S, Weiner DB, Felber BK, Pavlakis GN, Israel ZR, Eldridge JH, Sidhu MK. Rational design of a plasmid DNA vaccine capable of eliciting cell-mediated immune responses to multiple HIV antigens in mice. Vaccine 2006; 24:4510-23. [PMID: 16140439 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2005.08.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Given the importance of the HIV-specific cell-mediated immune response in the early control and resolution of HIV infection and the observed correlation between pre-challenge vaccine elicited CTL responses and post challenge outcome in SHIV/rhesus macaque experiments, we sought to identify several candidate plasmid DNA (pDNA) vaccine designs capable of eliciting robust and balanced cell-mediated immune responses to multiple HIV-1 derived antigens in mice for further vaccine development. To rationally construct candidate vaccines for immunogenicity testing, we determined the relative immunogenicity of the individual HIV-derived vaccine antigens (env, gag, pol, nef, tat and vif) and the relative strength of various transcriptional control elements (HCMV, SCMV, HSV Lap1) in Balb/c mice. Next, a number of 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-vector pDNA vaccine designs were tested for their ability to elicit HIV-1 antigen-specific CMI responses. For these studies, Balb/c mice were immunized with a fixed total pDNA vaccine dose of 100 mcg in combination with 25 mcg plasmid-based murine IL-12 and tested for the induction of HIV-1 antigen-specific CMI responses by IFN-gamma ELISpot analysis. The results of this study indicate that all pDNA vaccine designs were capable of eliciting CMI responses to multiple HIV-1 antigens. As a result of this iterative comparative analysis, we have identified a number of pDNA vaccine candidates capable of eliciting potent, balanced CMI responses to multiple HIV-1 derived antigens. These results have important implications for the design and development of an efficacious vaccine for the prevention of HIV-1 infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael A Egan
- Vaccine Discovery, Wyeth Vaccines Research, 401 N. Middletown Rd, Bldg. 180/216-10, Pearl River, NY 10965, USA
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Schadeck EB, Sidhu M, Egan MA, Chong SY, Piacente P, Masood A, Garcia-Hand D, Cappello S, Roopchand V, Megati S, Quiroz J, Boyer JD, Felber BK, Pavlakis GN, Weiner DB, Eldridge JH, Israel ZR. A dose sparing effect by plasmid encoded IL-12 adjuvant on a SIVgag-plasmid DNA vaccine in rhesus macaques. Vaccine 2005; 24:4677-87. [PMID: 16288822 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2005.10.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
An experimental pDNA vaccine adjuvant expressing IL-12 was evaluated for its ability to augment the humoral and cellular immune responses elicited by a SIVmac239 gag p39 expressing pDNA vaccine. To determine the effect of vaccine dose on the immune response, rhesus macaques were immunized with 1.5 mg or 5.0 mg of SIVmac239 gag pDNA, with or without co-immunization of IL-12 pDNA at 1.5 mg and 5.0 mg, respectively. Serum antibody responses to simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) gag were increased 10-fold (p=0.044, 0.002) in macaques receiving IL-12 pDNA. Cellular immune responses, monitored by SIV gag-specific IFN-gamma ELISpot assay, were also significantly higher (p=0.007, 0.019) when the pDNA vaccine was co-immunized with IL-12 pDNA at high and low doses. There was no statistical difference between the immune responses elicited by the high and low dose of IL-12 pDNA (p=0.221, 0.917), a finding which could allow a dose reduction of vaccine without the concomitant loss of imunogenicity. Furthermore, analysis of the breadth of the T-cell response during the vaccination schedule, using overlapping peptides to SIV gag, demonstrated a significant correlation (p=0.0002) between the magnitude and breadth of the immune responses in the vaccines. These results have important implications for the continuing development of an effective, safe low dose pDNA vaccine adjuvant suitable for human use.
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Kutzler MA, Robinson TM, Chattergoon MA, Choo DK, Choo AY, Choe PY, Ramanathan MP, Parkinson R, Kudchodkar S, Tamura Y, Sidhu M, Roopchand V, Kim JJ, Pavlakis GN, Felber BK, Waldmann TA, Boyer JD, Weiner DB. Coimmunization with an Optimized IL-15 Plasmid Results in Enhanced Function and Longevity of CD8 T Cells That Are Partially Independent of CD4 T Cell Help. J Immunol 2005; 175:112-23. [PMID: 15972637 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.175.1.112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 151] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
DNA vaccines are a promising technology for the induction of Ag-specific immune responses, and much recent attention has gone into improving their immune potency. In this study we test the feasibility of delivering a plasmid encoding IL-15 as a DNA vaccine adjuvant for the induction of improved Ag-specific CD8(+) T cellular immune responses. Because native IL-15 is poorly expressed, we used PCR-based strategies to develop an optimized construct that expresses 80-fold higher than the native IL-15 construct. Using a DNA vaccination model, we determined that immunization with optimized IL-15 in combination with HIV-1gag DNA constructs resulted in a significant enhancement of Ag-specific CD8(+) T cell proliferation and IFN-gamma secretion, and strong induction of long-lived CD8(+) T cell responses. In an influenza DNA vaccine model, coimmunization with plasmid expressing influenza A PR8/34 hemagglutinin with the optimized IL-15 plasmid generated improved long term CD8(+) T cellular immunity and protected the mice against a lethal mucosal challenge with influenza virus. Because we observed that IL-15 appeared to mostly adjuvant CD8(+) T cell function, we show that in the partial, but not total, absence of CD4(+) T cell help, plasmid-delivered IL-15 could restore CD8 secondary immune responses to an antigenic DNA plasmid, supporting the idea that the effects of IL-15 on CD8(+) T cell expansion require the presence of low levels of CD4 T cells. These data suggest a role for enhanced plasmid IL-15 as a candidate adjuvant for vaccine or immunotherapeutic studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michele A Kutzler
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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